Western Tennessee

Last Update: 29/NOVEMBER/2008

Compiled by Pete Payette - Š2008 American Forts Network

Paris Landing Battery
(Paris Landing State Park)
(1864), Paris Landing
A CSA masked battery was placed here by Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's forces in October 1864 to harrass Union ships on the Tennessee River. Several Union ships were destroyed or captured in four days. The actual site is now under the waters of Kentucky Lake.

Obion Archaeological Site
(1000 - 1300), near Cottage Grove
A palisaded Mississippian Culture temple mound complex, located on the North Fork Obion River north of town.

Camp Tyson
(1941 - 1946), Routon
A U.S. Army Coast Artillery Barrage Balloon Training Center, located on 6100 acres southwest of Paris along US 79. The main cantonment area was on 900 acres. Originally on 1680 acres, the reservation was expanded in 1943. German and Italian POWs were kept here after 1944 when balloon operations wound down. About 1300 acres of the former base later became the H.C. Spinks Clay Company. See also Barrage Balloons in WWII: From Camp Tyson to Omaha Beach from Skylighters.org

McKenzie Post
(1862), McKenzie
A Union 100-man garrison post was here, attacked and captured by Confederates in December 1862. Highway marker on US 79 south of town.

Camp Brown
(1861), Union City
A CSA training camp.

Union City Post
(1862), Union City
A Union garrison post was here, attacked and captured by Confederates in December 1862. Highway marker on TN 5 south of town.

Kenton Post
(1862), Kenton
A Union 250-man garrison post was here, attacked and captured by Confederates in December 1862. Highway marker on TN 5 south of town.

Trenton Post
(1862), Trenton
A Union garrison post was entrenched at the railroad depot on the west side of town, attacked and captured by Confederates in December 1862. Highway marker on TN 5 south of town.

Camp Beauregard
(1861), Jackson
A CSA training and staging camp northeast of town near US 70 and US 412.

Pinson Mounds (State Archaeological Park)
(1000 BC - 500 AD), near Pinson
A Middle Woodland Period Indian ceremonial site with 12 extant mounds and a 900-foot earthen wall remnant ("Eastern Citadel"). The second-tallest Indian mound in the U.S. (Sauls Mound at 72 feet) is located here.

Medon Post
(1862), Medon
A Union garrison was posted here. Attacked by Confederates in September 1862.

Shiloh Mounds
(Shiloh National Military Park)
(1000 - 1400), Pittsburg Landing
A partially palisaded Mississippian Culture temple mound complex. Eight mounds and over 50 house sites were located on an irregular plateau overlooking the Tennessee River, with a palisade on the western side only. Located and preserved within the Shiloh National Military Park boundary. Admission fee.

Pittsburg Landing Battery
(Shiloh National Military Park)
(1862), Pittsburg Landing
A Confederate battery was located here prior to the Battle of Shiloh (April 1862). Admission fee.

Pocahontas Post
(1863), Pocahontas
A Union garrison was posted here to protect the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Two fortifications were built, located at Big Hill to the east, and at Wray's Hill.

LaGrange Post
(1863), LaGrange
A Union garrison was posted here to protect the railroad.

Collierville Depot
(1863), Collierville
A Union supply depot. Attacked several times by Confederate forces.

Fort Germantown (park)
(1863), Germantown
A Union stockaded earthwork redoubt protecting the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. It was later abandoned and burned as operations shifted to the east (Chattanooga - Atlanta Campaigns). Earthworks still extant in city park at 3085 Honey Tree Drive.
(thanks to Scott Andrews for providing info)

Chucalissa
(C.H. Nash Museum)
(T.O. Fuller State Park)
(1000 - 1550), Memphis
Recreated palisaded village of the Mississippian Culture, with extant mounds and visitor center / museum. Operated jointly by the University of Memphis and the Mississippi Choctaw Nation. Located within the state park boundary, but not a part of it. Admission fee.

Fort Assumption
(1739 - 1740), Memphis FORT WIKI
A temporary French stockade built by the expedition under Jean Baptiste le Moyne, sieur de Bienville, on the highest part of Chickasaw Bluff Number Four. Marker at Tom Lee Park on South Riverside Drive. Actual site (eroded away) probably closer to Martyr's Park or Crump Park, located on either side of the I-55 and railroad bridges across the Mississippi River.

Fort Barrancas
(1795 - 1799), Memphis FORT WIKI
A Spanish fort near the mouth of the Wolf River, formally named Fort San Fernando de las Barrancas. Also known as Fort des Ecores. The Americans ordered the Spanish to vacate this site in 1797, according to the Treaty of San Lorenzo, to which they moved across the river in present-day Arkansas to set up Fort Esperanza (see also). The Americans then rebuilt and renamed the post Fort Adams. It was soon replaced by Fort Pike. Actual site now the Pyramid Arena complex. Markers located at Auction Park, bounded by Auction Ave., North Parkway, North Main Street, and North Front Street.

Fort Pickering
(1799 - 1814/1818, 1861 - 1865), Memphis ¤ National Archives MAP ¤ FORT WIKI
Fort Pike, a small stockade post, was built downriver from Fort Adams in 1799 to replace it. Renamed/rebuilt in 1801 and became part of the Federal "Factory system" of Indian trading posts with the creation of the Chickasaw Indian Agency in July 1802. Also known as Post at Chickasaw Bluffs. The military post was discontinued in 1814, but the Indian Agency remained here until 1818 when it was relocated west on the Arkansas River near the Cherokee Settlements. The site of the fort was later used again by Confederate forces in the Civil War, and became the "Inner Keep" of the new Fort Pickering (see below). Site located about two miles south of Fort Barrancas/Adams at Ashburn-Coppock Park on South Riverside Drive. No remains.

Civil War Defenses of Memphis
(1861 - 1865), Memphis FORT WIKI
The Confederates occupied old Fort Pickering. Located at present-day Chickasaw Heritage Park (formerly DeSoto Park), two ancient Indian mounds (DeSoto Mounds) were converted into CSA redoubts; the largest (Chisca Mound) was used as a four-gun redoubt with an interior magazine; the smaller mound was used as a three-gun redoubt. The present-day National Ornamental Metal Museum (built 1930's) is located at the site of the old Marine Hospital.

The Union enlarged and expanded the works around old Fort Pickering upon capturing the city in June 1862, enclosing supply houses, depots, horse corrals, and barracks with 12 lettered batteries and redans. The earthworks of the new Fort Pickering stretched from Beale Street south to the DeSoto Mounds, including present-day Tom Lee Park, Ashburn-Coppock Park, Martyr's Park, and Crump Park. Traces of the Union earthworks still exist. Four outworks of Fort Pickering were planned but never built. Twelve numbered outer batteries circled the city to the east.

Memphis CSA Arsenal and Ordnance Depot
(1861 - 1862), Memphis
A Confederate military depot. Undetermined location.

Fort Harris
(1861 - 1862), Memphis FORT WIKI
A Confederate fort located near the present-day mouth of the Loosahatchie River. Abandoned before the city fell to the Union in June 1862. Actual site now submerged under the Mississippi River, on or near the Loosahatchie Bar. The Loosahatchie River once flowed south into the Wolf River and emptied near present-day Mud Island before a shift in the Mississippi River changed the alignment.
(thanks to Scott Andrews for providing location)

Fort Wright
(1861 - 1862), Randolph
A Confederate six-gun earthen redoubt located just south of the mouth of the Hatchie River, on Chickasaw Bluff Number Two. Also known as Fort Randolph. The fort was abandoned by its garrison hours prior to the Union advance down river in June 1862. An earthen-covered brick powder magazine is still extant, located at 189 Ballard Slough Road (private property).

A three or four-gun water battery was also located just north of the fort below the mouth of the Hatchie River (as it existed in 1862), no remains. This was an outwork of Fort Wright. NOTE: There was no second fort named "Randolph". Fort "Wright" and Fort "Randolph" were one and the same.
(additional info courtesy of Ward Weems)

Fort Prudhomme
(1682), near Fulton
A temporary French fort on Chickasaw Bluff Number One, built by René Robert Cavelier, sieur de LaSalle, on his expedition down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. Pierre Prudhomme, a member of the expedition, became lost in the area, necessitating a base camp to search for him.

Fort Pillow (State Historic Park)
(1861 - 1864), near Fulton FORT WIKI
Located on Chickasaw Bluff Number One, although the main channel of the Mississippi River has since shifted west. While the large fort was built in 1861 by Confederate forces, the line of intervals built for the fewer defenders available in 1862 was built on individual hilltops within the original fort. The huge original fort was built for 20,000 defenders while the 1862 fort was built for 4000. Captured by the Union in May 1862. Union soldiers refer to building fortifications here, but they were actually building embrasures or re-solidifying existing fortifications. The restored segment was part of the 1862 Confederate defenses with new embrasures for USCT batteries. This was not intended to be the primary defensive position in the 1864 battle. Confederates attacked and held the fort in April 1864, scene of the so-called "Fort Pillow Massacre" of the Union garrison, which was made up of mostly Negro troops at the time.
(info courtesy of Ward Weems)

Rucker's Redoubt
(1861 - 1862), near Cates
A series of five numbered Confederate batteries on the Tennessee shore overlooking Island Number 10 in Missouri, which along with the Missouri shore batteries (see MISSOURI page), prevented Union gunboats from proceeding downriver in March 1862. Battery No. 1 had six guns. Abandoned due to floodwaters six days before the island was abandoned to the Union in April 1862. Traces may still exist. Roadside exhibit and Confederate Cemetery are located on TN 22 in Cronanville.

NEED MORE INFO: Trading Post Road near Paris.
Towns:

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